The Mountain Fifes and Drums plays "Amazing Grace" at a ceremony to unveil a statue of Jeremiah MacKay Sunday, Sept. 1 in Lake Arrowhead. Jeremiah MacKay, a San Bernardino County sheriff's detective, was gunned down Feb. 12 by murder suspect and fugitive Christopher Dorner near Angeles Oaks.

Sculptor Khachik Khachatouryan's nine-foot monument in honor of former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Detective Jeremiah MacKay.

Sculptor Khachik Khachatouryan's nine-foot monument in honor of former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Detective Jeremiah MacKay.

Lynette MacKay, widow of former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Detective Jeremiah MacKay, speaks at a Sunday, Sept. 1 ceremony before the unveiling of a statue in her late husband's honor. The nine-foot monument sits in a grassy area in Lake Arrowhead Village. MacKay was slain by former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner near Angeles Oaks Feb. 12.

Sculptor Khachik Khachatouryan, 46, left, created the nine-foot monument in honor of former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Detective Jeremiah MacKay. Next to him is Holland Lowe, executive director of Operation Provider, a local charity that coordinated a fundraising effort to pay for materials and cast the bronze sculpture. To Lowe's right is bagpiper Steve Moeller.

Sculptor Khachik Khachatouryan hands a beret worn by Jeremiah MacKay to MacKay's father, Alan, during a ceremony to unveil a statue of Jeremiah MacKay Sunday, Sept. 1 in Lake Arrowhead. Jeremiah MacKay's mother, Dawn, is next to Alan MacKay. Khachatouryan said he incorporated the beret into the sculpture he created because it showed how unique Jeremiah MacKay was as a person.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect name for the Glengarry hat featured in the sculpture.

He died a hero in the line of duty. His legacy, etched in bronze, lives on.

A sculpture of San Bernardino County sheriff’s Detective Jeremiah MacKay was unveiled Sunday, Sept. 1, in Lake Arrowhead Village.

MacKay was slain by former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner on Feb. 12 at a mountain cabin in the remote community of Seven Oaks.

More than 200 people attended a ceremony in the bandstand area before walking a short distance to a grassy part of the village where the sculpture was unveiled.

The procession to the monument was led by Mountain Fifes and Drums, a local volunteer corps of young people ages 12 to 18.

“It’s an amazing tribute,” said his widow, Lynette MacKay. “We feel very blessed as a family to have (the sculpture) up here.”

Sculptor Khachik Khachatouryan, 46, created the 9-foot monument that depicts MacKay from the waist up. The sculpture shows the officer with his right hand over his heart. The figure is wearing a glengarry hat and has a dove next to him.

“I didn’t want to capture just a police officer,” Khachatouryan said before the ceremony. “I wanted to create a deep and meaningful sculpture of a wonderful human being, husband and father.”

Before making the sculpture, Khachatouryan met MacKay’s widow, who gave him the glengarry hat that MacKay wore when he played the bagpipes. Khachatouryan included the hat in the sculpture even though it’s not part of the police uniform.

“I thought it was something very unique and very special that characterized Jeremiah,” he said. Khachatouryan gave the Glengarry back to Jeremiah’s father, Alan.

“The MacKay family is so overwhelmed with this,” Alan MacKay said.

In his son’s honor, Alan MacKay said he started the 14.D.2 Prayer Project, a ministry to support public safety officers. Jeremiah MacKay’s radio call sign was 14.D.2. “Jeremiah laid down his life for his brothers and sisters,” Alan MacKay said. “That was his nature.”

“All of us owe a debt of gratitude to Jeremiah MacKay,” San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told the audience.

Stephen Wall has covered regional education issues and general assignment since 2013. An Orange County native, he lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, in the mid-1990s and is fluent in Spanish. He worked for The Sun from 1999 to 2010, writing about city government, schools, education, immigration and other topics. He joined The Press-Enterprise as a freelancer in 2013 and became a staff writer two years later. His hobbies include running and Angels baseball.

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